Lesson video

Hello and welcome to this lesson on judgement in Christianity.

I am Miss Kendrick, and I've been going through lots of different Christian beliefs in these unit.

So if you're just joining this lesson now, then that's absolutely fine.

Just do your best to join in.

It doesn't matter too much.

If you've missed anything from previous lessons, I'll try and fill in the gaps as much as possible.

One thing that you do need to be aware of in this lesson is that I am going to be talking about life and death and beliefs about judgement and the afterlife.

So if this is a sensitive topic for you, then please do make sure that you have a trusted adult or somebody nearby that you can talk to.

You might want to have with you whilst you're doing this lesson.

So what are we going to be talking about? We are going to be looking at what does the Bible say about the day of judgement ? We're going to look at some different Christian interpretations around the day of judgement and some different views on what Christians believe humans will be judged on.

You are going to meet a pen or pencil and some paper to write your answers on and ideally a different coloured pen or pencil to write down corrections and feedback, which is a really, really important step, if you're ever missing anything in your answer or if you could just add a little bit more then this is where we're going to learn even more when you're making additions and corrections.

So if you've been following along in the lessons in this unit, you'll know that in the last lesson I was talking about Jesus' life according to the Bible and how it ended with Jesus' ascension.

The belief that Jesus went up into heaven 40 days after He resurrected and after he'd spent some time with His disciples.

In the Bible, it says that, "While the disciples are staring up at the sky, looking at where Jesus had it disappeared to, two men and white appeared by them and said, 'men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way that you still Him go to heaven'.

Now in our culture, I think people don't often think about there being a day of judgement for all humanity.

I think often when I talk to people about life after death or talk to students about life after death, they might have a sense of an individual judgement and then someone going straight to heaven or hell, or they might not really think about judgement at all.

Often people think about the idea of having an eternal spiritual existence, but not necessarily having a judgement.

Many Christians do believe that people are judged individually after their death and then go to heaven or hell rather than all people being judged in one day.

But the Bible does have many references to a day of judgement.

So in the Bible it says, "No one knows, however, when that day or hour will come, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, the Father alone knows".

So there's this belief in Christianity that no one knows when at the day of judgement will happen, but there are some few verses in the Bible, which sort of give clues or hints to what the world would be like at the end of time and when the day of judgement is coming, many Christians have traditionally believed that when the day of judgement comes, there'll be a physical resurrection of all people.

That means that they will have their bodies again, there'll be raised from the dead.

And this is what we call a more literal interpretation of the claims of the Bible.

You might see on some gravestones, if you ever visit a graveyard, the words "In the shore and certain hope of the resurrection" and that points to the belief of that person who's died, that one day they will be resurrected for the day of judgement and for an eternal life.

And Christians would say that Jesus' resurrection was like the foretaste of this resurrection, that they believe that they will have themselves.

And the gospel stories record Jesus having a physical body, having the wounds of the crucifixion, being recognisable but not always.

There's a difference about him, says there is belief in Christianity that there'll be a eternal physical body that is different from the perishable bodies that we have now.

Many Christians who believe this interpretation of the Bible will believe that on the day of judgement , God will judge people based on their actions and their intentions.

They believe that nothing can be hidden from God because God is omniscient, which means all knowing and that he brings to light things that are hidden in darkness.

So this quotation says, "God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret".

Christians where the more symbolic interpretation of the Bible may not believe in a literal day of judgement.

And they're more likely to believe in a spiritual resurrection and eternal life, rather than a physical one.

Some Christians who have a more liberal view in the Bible may believe that there isn't a day of judgement because they believe that all humans go to heaven because they believe that God is all loving.

In the next lesson we're going to look more at Christian beliefs about the afterlife and different beliefs about heaven and hell.

But the question for this lesson is, what do Christians believe humans are judged on? So before we look at these different beliefs, we are going to have some quick-fire questions on what we have done so far.

Some Christians believe in a physical resurrection.

True or false? One, two, three, that is true.

Some Christians believe that the teachings in the Bible about judgement are symbolic.

True or false? True.

In the story of the ascension, angel said that Jesus was returning to heaven forever.

True or false? False.

So in that account, the angels say that Jesus will return in the same way the disciples saw Him leave.

Christians believe that the Bible tells them the exact time the day of judgement will happen? True or false? False.

Christians believe that there is no way of knowing, that only God, the Father knows when the day of judgement will take place.

Many Christians believe that on the day of judgement , God will judge them based on their actions and intentions? True or false? True.

Okay, that's going to be our last quick-fire question for now.

The next task is to pause and answer the question on screen.

Once you are done, then you can play the video again for some feedback.

Just before we go to the next thing, just a note about the last question.

So it asked you to talk about contrasting beliefs.

Now when something contrasts, it means it's different.

It doesn't necessarily mean opposites because sometimes we think of contrasting in opposites, don't we? But if you think about contrasting colours, yellow and green contrast because they're different, aren't they? But they're not opposites in the same way that yellow and purple are opposite each other on the colour wheel if you remember from your art essence.

So if a question asks you for contrasting beliefs, you just need to make sure that they are different beliefs.

Sometimes it does work to talk about opposite beliefs, but not all the time.

Another thing that you sometimes get in questions is you get asked about similar beliefs.

It's more likely you'll get that in the themes units.

So we'll hold off on that one for now, but just to give you a bit of explanation, but what that is looking for.

So what do Christians believe humans will be judged on? On the next slide, I've got three different things that Christians traditionally might say that humans are judged on and Christian is going to have different views on these.

So they're probably going to choose one that they believe more than the others, but that is going to be some overlap because Christians are all reading the same Bible so that all you're looking at the same teachings here, but some will emphasise some over the others.

So let's have a look at them.

The first thing we've got the belief that people will be judged by their works or their deeds.

So that's the belief that they're going to be judged on their actions, things they do, how they treat people.

The second one is faith.

So this is belief that people will be judged on whether or not they believe in Jesus, whether or not they're Christians.

And finally, there's the belief that they will be judged on both works and faith together.

So we'll look at this in a bit more detail, but there's the idea that if somebody has genuine faith, it's going to be expressed through the deeds that they do.

So we're going to start by looking at the belief that people are judged by their works in a bit more detail.

And we're going to look at a parable that was told by Jesus.

So parables were stories told by Jesus, which had some deeper meaning.

So again, we've already got this question about whether this parable should be taken literally or symbolically.

Because a lot of the parables teachings as told were not things that actually happened, but things that had a message that he wanted people to learn.

So we're going to look at "The parable of the sheep and the goats", which is that judgement and this is going to be really helpful pow- This is going to be a really helpful parable for you to know, because it's going to be useful for lots and lots of different topics you're going to look at in Christianity.

So in this parable, Jesus says that "On the day of judgement , the King or God will divide people into two groups, just as a shepherd, separates the sheep from the goats".

He will put the righteous people at his right hand and the other's at his left.

Then the King will say to the people on his right, "Come you that are blessed by my Father, come and possess the kingdom that has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world.

I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me in.

I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you took care of me.

In prison you visited me".

And the righteous will answer Him.

"Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink.

When did we ever see you as a stranger and invite you into our homes or naked and clothe you".

The King will reply.

"I tell you, whenever you did this, for the least important of those followers of mine, you did it for me".

Then he will say to those on his left, "Away from me, you that are under God's curse away to the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

I was hungry and you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink.

I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me into your homes, naked but you would not clothe me.

I was sick and in prison and you would not take care of me".

Then they all answer him.

"Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we would not help you".

The King will reply.

"I tell you, whenever you refuse to help one of the least of these important ones, you refuse to help me.

These then will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life".

In the story, Jesus is explaining that people will be judged on their deeds, whether or not they've helped others and not just helping anybody, but helping those people who are considered the least important people in their societies.

And this fits well with God's quality of being just, doesn't it? We feel often that is the right thing for some to be judged based on their actions about whether or not they're a good person.

And remember, Christians believe that if, and remember, if Christians believe that Jesus is God, then they'll believe that his teachings have got authority.

So they would say that Jesus was able to talk about what would happen on the day of judgement because they believe Jesus is God.

So we are going to pause for a moment so you can get this belief down on paper.

So I've got some sentences for you to complete so that you can get a full explanation of the "Parable of the sheep and the goats".

So, many Christians would say that it's all fair, well and good, believing that God is just, and therefore he bases judgement on people's actions, but there is a problem there because if people are only based on their actions, why would it have been necessary for Jesus to die for people's sins? Surely people could have just worked at being really, really good people.

So some Christians believe that people are judged many on faith.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father except by me".

And this expresses the belief that Christianity is the true faith and that it's the only way to God and therefore the only way to salvation.

So some Christians would say that on the day of judgement , God will decide who goes to heaven simply based on people's faith.

This means that some Christians will believe that people from other religions or people who are non-religious, they believe they won't go to heaven, but not all Christians believe that.

So again, we need to be really aware that there's always going to be a variety of belief in Christianity.

So we'll pause again and your next slide, you need to answer some questions based on the belief that people are judged by their faith.

Finally, we have got the belief that humans are judged on their faith and deeds.

So we've got this quotation here, which says, "So it is with faith: If it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead".

Some Christians will sometimes use the interpretation that says faith without works is dead.

So one of the reasons for this is because many Christians would say that there's a problem with saying that people are only judged on their faith because they might argue that some people might claim they believe in Jesus, but they might not change their lives.

And matters of faith fit very well with Jesus's teachings or the example of His life.

Jesus regularly told people to change their ways, to pick up their cross and follow him to die to themselves.

So there's a real expectation in the gospel stories about Jesus, that people will change their ways.

This means behaving as he did, just like in a game of "Follow the leader", you do what the leader does.

Many Christians believe that people should behave as Jesus did, and do things like show love to others and help people.

It's not just about being a nice person, but it's about making personal sacrifices to help others.

As many Christians would say, well, Jesus, once the extent of sacrificing his whole life for other people.

So they would say that being a Christian is not just about being friendly, but actually giving up a selfish ways that humans have and helping other people.

That means that many Christians believe they should put God before all other things in their lives and always think of others before themselves.

And that's quite hard teaching actually it's challenging.

It challenges human nature.

Doesn't it? So, this quotation, "So it is with faith: If this is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead".

This quotation is saying that if someone claims they're Christian, but on living a Christian life, then their faith, isn't really a real faith that it's a dead one.

So when looking at faith and deeds, it's not so much that Christians believe they are judged on their deeds, but that living a good life is a result of the belief that they're saved.

We've talked a bit before about the idea of forgiveness, being a debt that has been paid.

Now, if somebody had forgiven you for something huge or even saved your life or something like that, then you would feel a huge debt of gratitude towards them.

You might even say, you know, anything you want me to do, I'll do.

You might be completely devoted and it's not a debt that's held over you in a negative way, like someone's saying, oh, you owe me.

But it said debt out of gratitude and out joy for what that person has done for you.

So many Christians would say, because they believe that Jesus made it possible for them to be forgiven by his sacrifice, they would say they owe Jesus their lives.

So there's faith in Jesus leads to living a Christ like life is what many Christians would say.

So we're going to pause, you're going to answer some questions and then we'll go through our answers.

And then we're going to practise writing an answer to an evaluate question.

Okay? So in this lesson, we've looked at three different beliefs about judgement , about how people are judged.

We've looked at some beliefs about the day of judgement.

And in the last lesson we looked at atonement and we've looked at sin and salvation.

So what we're going to do now is we're going to bring some of these concepts together.

So we've got this question here or statement, which says "Salvation is God's greatest gift to humanity".

And this is an evaluate question which fits with several examples and we're going to practise answering it.

The first thing we're going to do is make sure we've got some evidence that's going to be useful.

And I've got two quotations here, firstly, "For God so loved the world for God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in Him may not die, but have eternal life".

So many Christians believe this quotation sort of summarises the gospel message.

And, "I tell you, whenever you did this, one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me".

So that quotation is from the "Parable of the sheep and the goats" in which Jesus tells people to do good deeds.

Now in these evaluated questions, you need to explain reasons for and against the statement.

You need to use what you have learnt.

So don't make things up.

Don't be vague.

I always tell people not to be vague where you need to refer to specific beliefs and teachings in Christianity.

You will need a conclusion in which you will say, which side of the argument you think is most convincing.

So do you agree that salvation is God's greatest gift to humanity? Or do you believe that something else that Christians believe God has given humans is greater.

And for the Christianity unit, it's always best to use Christian teachings only because it's asking you specifically about Christianity.

In other units, you can talk about more than one religion.

So the first thing we're going to do is have a think, so you're going to pause the video.

You're going to do a mind map or bullet point some ideas of things that you think might be relevant to this question.

We'll look at some ideas together, and then I'm going to give you a go.

I'm going to let you give writing and answer a go.

Okay, so here we've got some points for agree and disagree.

You might have some different points and that's absolutely fine.

I am not a mind reader, shockingly.

So I won't know exactly what you would have come up with.

And I don't expect you to do be a mind reader either, but hopefully some of my ideas can be helpful.

So on the agree side, I've got three points.

Jesus' sacrifice means that forgiveness can be freely given.

So that links to salvation being a gift.

There's the belief that no human can earn salvation.

So there is the belief that no one can do so many good deeds that they could deserve heaven or get rid of their sin.

And we've got salvation is a gift given at great cost.

So remember Christians believe that Jesus died to give people salvation.

So that is a great cost of that gift.

So that might mean that is God's greatest gift.

On with disagree side, we've got the "Parable of the sheep and the goats" suggest that salvation is not a gift, but something humans work for.

You could argue that it's not a gift to all humans, Just the ones who believe in Him.

So you might say that maybe it's not that great gift, If not everyone gets it, or you could say, it's not a gift to humanity.

Could argue it's just to gift to Christians.

Or you could argue that something else entirely is God's greatest gift to humanity.

So you could argue creation because people wouldn't exist if the world didn't exist or the Bible, because the- Christians will say the Bible teaches them about God and about Jesus.

So there's lots and lots of options here.

In terms of a checklist for your answer, you need evidence.

So if you were to just list all of the points on the previous slide, that would have been lovely, but you wouldn't have gotten full marks because you need to make sure you're explaining those points with evidence.

So those points could be the beginning of your answer, but they wouldn't necessarily be your whole answer.

You need to make sure you've got a valuation.

So saying this is a strong or weak point because you need to aim to write it's three to four paragraphs.

So this is a longer answer.

And you need a clear judgement in your conclusion.

Now I didn't give you an opportunity to pause the slide previously.

So I'm going to give you that opportunity now so that you can add some key points to your mind about all your bullet points.

Then now you've added some of those key points to your list, you are going to see if you can bring it all together.

Now there is going to be lots of different variety in this question, because it's actually quite an open question in lots of ways.

There's lots of things you can talk about.

Once you've given that go, I'm going to talk about some of the things that would be really useful to include so that you can look at your answer and think, okay, I think I've got everything I need or think about whether or not you need a little bit more.

In an examination, it depends on your examples, but if you're writing for a QA, for example, you would spend about 15 minutes on this question, and I think other examples are going to be fairly similar, always check with your teacher, how long you need to be spending on an evaluate question.

So hopefully you're feeling ready to give your answer a go.

Okay.

Well done.

Hopefully you've got a nice full answer.

Hopefully you've got three to four paragraphs.

So have a look at your work.

Think about, do you have these things? Do you have any quotations? Quotations of really, really important for evidence? So if you're not sure about quotations, you can always go back in the video and add some of the ones that I've used when I've been talking.

Have you talked about whether an argument is a strong or weak argument? So at the end of each paragraph, you could say, this is strong or weak because, and explain why some Christians might disagree and think about it in that way.

This is an argument throughout history, Christians have massively fallen out with each other about some of these questions.

So you want it to be like an arch when people are really passionate about, or some people say this or other people say that.

And there are odds with each other.

So really express that in your writing, you want to be persuasive.

Have you persuaded the person reading your answer around your point of view? And your point of view is going to be expressed in your judgement at the end.

So you can't say in my opinion, but you can just say in conclusion, salvation is, or isn't the greatest gift to humanity because, so you don't have to use the words I, you can just show which sides you agree with most based on your wording of the question.

Make sure you've got reasons for your answer in your conclusion as well.

I hope that's been really helpful practise for you.

Thank you for working hard in this lesson.

And now it's time for you to complete the quiz.